Omarosa Manigault Newman, an ex-aide of former President Donald Trump, has posted several photo and video updates from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, including one from the opening worship service. She also posted a video of her seeming to purchase of a Kamala Harris 2024 T-shirt supporting the vice president’s presidential campaign.
“Momarosa wanted a cute KHive shirt! Found it! #chicago #mamasaid,” Newman posted on Instagram.
Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, is running for a second term without support from numerous former officials in his White House, including some who have decided not to endorse him even and others openly declaring they will not vote for him and going as far to discourage his reelection.
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When reached for comment about Newman’s support for Harris, along with the lack of support from other disaffected allies of the former president, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung told Newsweek via email Monday night: “Nobody knows who these no-names are. They barely did anything in the administration and played insignificant roles.”
Newsweek reached out to Newman via her Instagram page and emailed the Harris campaign Monday night for comment.
Newman became widely known after appearing on the first season of Trump’s The Apprentice, and even though she had been a registered Democrat for more than a decade, her relationship with Trump led the then-presidential candidate to name her as the director of African American outreach for his 2016 campaign. She joined his White House staff in 2017 as director of communications for the Office of Public Liaison before being fired a year later.
Newman secretly taped her dismissal, which was later played on national television. It showed John Kelly, then-chief of staff, firing her over security concerns and saying she could face “pretty significant legal issues” if it was not a “friendly departure.”
In her 2018 book, Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House, Newman made numerous allegations about what White House officials said during her year in the administration, and claimed Trump used racial slurs during their time together on The Apprentice.
Since leaving the White House, Newman has been an outspoken critic of Trump’s administration and his current campaign.
Last month, she raised questions about claims the former president made about his ancestry after Trump suggested that Harris had only recently begun identifying as Black.
During a July 31 appearance on CNN, Newman recalled that Trump identified as Swedish in his bestseller, The Art of the Deal, despite being of German and Scottish ancestry. Newman said that Trump didn’t want to acknowledge his roots because he thought being Swedish “would play better to those who were patronizing his businesses.”
Arguing that Trump would identify as Swedish, German and Irish “whenever it’s convenient,” Newman said: “Donald doesn’t know the difference between ancestry and race. He doesn’t want to know the differences, nor does he understand the nuances of how people self-identify.”
